Grub boot loader?
 

Dear All
In my Red Hat 7.2 , the /boot/grub/grub.conf has the following data :
"default=0
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.7-10)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.7-10 ro root=/dev/hda5
initrd /initrd-2.4.7-10.img"
But when I reboot my Red Hat server , I don't see the Grub menu to say edit the boot kernel . Can you please let me know how can I activate it?
Thank you

The grub menu should be displayed on reboot. Since it isn't displayed, I suspect something in the reboot procedure is by-passing grub.

Please give details of the reboot procedure you use.

No idea how things are set up on RH 7.2, what does this say:

In you're grub.conf is there not a line like hidden menu or somethink like that ?
If so make it a remark.

grub.conf Are you sure ?

My (legacy) grub uses the file /boot/grub/menu.lst for describing the menu and boot options.

Thank you for your reply . To reboot my server , I issue 'init 6' and then I see the Red Hat icon appearing with a timer but when I press the 'e' key to edit the boot kernel it does not enter to the Grub edit menu and the timer will expire and the boot process will begin without letting me to edit the boot kernel . Please let me know what is wrong in my case that does not permit me to enter the Grub edit.
Thank you

Please find below my '/boot/grub' :
[root@mc-0 root]# ls -la /boot/grub
total 241
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 1024 Sep 13 13:00 .
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root 1024 Sep 13 12:53 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 82 Sep 13 13:00 device.map
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 10848 Sep 13 13:00 e2fs_stage1_5
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 9744 Sep 13 13:00 fat_stage1_5
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8864 Sep 13 13:00 ffs_stage1_5
-rw------- 1 root root 543 Sep 13 13:00 grub.conf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 11 Sep 13 13:00 menu.lst -> ./grub.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 9248 Sep 13 13:00 minix_stage1_5
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 12512 Sep 13 13:00 reiserfs_stage1_5
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 54044 Sep 5 2001 splash.xpm.gz
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 512 Sep 13 13:00 stage1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 120000 Sep 13 13:00 stage2
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8512 Sep 13 13:00 vstafs_stage1_5
Thank you

Please find below my 'grub.conf' :
[root@mc-0 root]# more /boot/grub/grub.conf
# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE: You have a /boot partition. This means that
# all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
# root (hd0,0)
# kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/hda5
# initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/hda
default=0
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.7-10)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.7-10 ro root=/dev/hda5
initrd /initrd-2.4.7-10.img
Thank you

Please find below my '/boot/grub/menu.lst' :
[root@mc-0 root]# more /boot/grub/menu.lst
# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE: You have a /boot partition. This means that
# all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
# root (hd0,0)
# kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/hda5
# initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/hda
default=0
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.7-10)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.4.7-10 ro root=/dev/hda5
initrd /initrd-2.4.7-10.img
Thank you

Thanks for your reply . Can you please confirm if the following can be used to activate the grub menu on my server ?
#grub-install /dev/hdax
Is it a safe procedure to try with ? Please confirm.
Thank you

grub-install /dev/hdax will install grub on hdax. This will over write your existing partition tables.

I hope your issue is not related with this, If you are able to boot into your OS and all partitions are getting mounted properly, then I hope there is no point in overwriting your MBR using grub-install or setup.

Please wait, some one may get back to you..

Thanks for your message . So you mean it can harm my server ?

It seems that we can try for directly editting the '/boot/grub/menu.lst' w/o any harm to the server . Am I right ?
Thank you

Yes you can edit the menu.lst .
Use a real linux text editor like nano or pico or kwrite
No need to say that you have to do it as root or sudo or su.
But also learn the syntax or ask if what you like to add or create is correct.